Mr. Saverin, who hails from a wealthy Brazilian family, launched Facebook with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and other Harvard University students in 2004. But he left the company early on, and moved to Singapore in 2009, where he has become a celebrity, followed closely by local fans and reporters. He described Singapore as a “great market” for investment, citing diversity of talent and growing support from the government.

“Today, I’m an angel investor, [an] early-stage investor,” he said. “It’ll be OK if I don’t create another Facebook.”

In the 2010 movie “The Social Network,” which was based on the genesis of Facebook, Mr. Saverin was portrayed as one of the main characters, along with Mr. Zuckerberg.